Eating terribly one day...fast the next?

kvissy
kvissy Posts: 205 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I'm curious as to what people do to compensate for a terrible eating day. Do you fast 1-2 days following? Do you over-exercise the day after? Do you cut your calories in half? Does this fast work? (do the pounds drop, do the pounds maintain, etc)

Do you start fresh and just make believe the binge never occured? If so, do you find that you have a weight gain?
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Replies

  • iLikepistachios
    iLikepistachios Posts: 18
    I personally do some extra exercise and continue my regular eating habits. (:
  • Mizzou91
    Mizzou91 Posts: 249
    Burn a little extra if you must, but the best strategy is just to forgive yourself and move on (as long as it doesn't happen THAT often). Fasting is a terrible idea. Your body needs fuel.
  • BaconMD
    BaconMD Posts: 1,165 Member
    Put it behind you and move on. It's not going to be the end of you.
  • Acg67
    Acg67 Posts: 12,142 Member
    Fresh start, 1 day will not derail your entire diet. Just get back on track and be relatively consistent.
  • Sidesteal
    Sidesteal Posts: 5,510 Member
    I'm curious as to what people do to compensate for a terrible eating day. Do you fast 1-2 days following? Do you over-exercise the day after? Do you cut your calories in half? Does this fast work? (do the pounds drop, do the pounds maintain, etc)

    Do you start fresh and just make believe the binge never occured? If so, do you find that you have a weight gain?

    I'm going to offer you pure opinion on this one.

    I think it's mentally unhealthy to compensate by trying to correct a poor eating day. I believe the best method is to just resume your current plan.
  • sk2775
    sk2775 Posts: 699 Member
    Same as above...start fresh the next day and you get to do it all over again.
  • cakeums
    cakeums Posts: 228 Member
    I just continue on as usual, most of the time. Yesterday I went beyond the binge, so today I am going to be pretty far under since I burned a lot of calories working out. I figure it will balance out for the week. I always look at things in terms of the whole week and not just one day to the next. For this past week, I was 2200 over my weekly net goal! But even still, I should still be okay because it means there are still 1300 calories remaining of my 3500 calorie goal deficit. Does that make sense?

    Basically, what I'm saying is don't stress over it! Just get back on track.
  • jaymek92
    jaymek92 Posts: 309 Member
    i carry on with my normal eating and exercise habits. i also plan two cheat meals into my week, so i know when i'm going to be over and i don't worry about it.
    i've been losing around a pound a week for the past month and a half, so it's working for me.
  • Teapotdomescam
    Teapotdomescam Posts: 156 Member
    I used to just not eat anything at all for practically the entire day, but it doesn't take a genius to realize that isn't going to solve the problem! if anything it'll just make you hungrier and then you risk compensating for everything later on anyway. Usually, if I am feeling guilty about a bad eating day I work out more, or take longer walks
  • shovav91
    shovav91 Posts: 2,335 Member
    I'm curious as to what people do to compensate for a terrible eating day. Do you fast 1-2 days following? Do you over-exercise the day after? Do you cut your calories in half? Does this fast work? (do the pounds drop, do the pounds maintain, etc)

    Do you start fresh and just make believe the binge never occured? If so, do you find that you have a weight gain?

    I'm going to offer you pure opinion on this one.

    I think it's mentally unhealthy to compensate by trying to correct a poor eating day. I believe the best method is to just resume your current plan.

    I agree completely. Trying to compensate by fasting is very much an eating disorder mentality. Trust me, it's unhealthy and won't do you any good. Don't dwell; get back on track the next day but don't overcompensate and don't punish yourself!
  • Shelby814
    Shelby814 Posts: 273 Member
    Ditto. Totally agree with what the others have already said. Tomorrow's a new day. :)
  • Pebble321
    Pebble321 Posts: 6,423 Member
    I just go on with normal eating the next day, though I won't make an effort to eat all my calories, if I have a bit of an extra deficit that is OK.

    For me, it has been important to develop good eating habits - learning what is a healthy amount to eat - not too little, not too much. But I also accept that life doesn't offer exactly the same opportunities or challenges everyday and somedays I will eat more and some days less. And that's OK, the key is to make sure that there are more days when I eat a healthy amount of good food. One bad day is not going to ruin everything. I know that some weeks I will lose, some weeks I'll gain, some I'll stay the same. But, the overall trend has been downwards, so I'm happy with that.

    Also, starving one day to punish myself for overeating the day before seems like a VERY bad idea to me.
  • cakeums
    cakeums Posts: 228 Member
    Oh, and I'm not saying that I would normally just burn a ton of calories and not eat back at all...but I'm still not all that hungry after how much I ate yesterday, so I figure being under my net for today isn't the end of the world.
  • sweetteacher123
    sweetteacher123 Posts: 178
    Fasting is horrible for your body. It puts it into starvation mode, slowing your metabolism, and then makes you so incredibly hungry that you will overeat to feed your hunger. Do not fast! If you feel you must do an extra workout, okay, but just get back on your healthy routine.
  • Masterdo
    Masterdo Posts: 331 Member
    You don't gain weight overnight anymore than you lose it overnight. Log that day of excess, keep going the next day.
  • hesn92
    hesn92 Posts: 5,966 Member
    I don't do anything. Just start fresh the next day.
  • Josie_lifting_cats
    Josie_lifting_cats Posts: 949 Member
    I *try* to return to normal the following day.

    I do tend to struggle with that... I want to go a little overboard. Sometimes I do. But within a few days I'm back to normal.

    I ate plenty for Easter, and today I weight 1.8 pounds more. I'm sure that by Wednesday, though, I will be pretty much back to normal. Also, the occasional binge sometimes is enough to trigger more loss over the next week or two - I'm finding that strategically having a "crazy day" leads to more consistent weight loss for me.

    I wouldn't worry about it too much - just try to be as good as you can for a few days and you'll probably be back to normal in no time!
  • supermom2002
    supermom2002 Posts: 180 Member
    i say listen to the people with the muscles. or at least look at them. i am.

    but start fresh the next day. eat balanced meals and don't starve yourself. you just set up the brain to binge later.
  • siobhano_
    siobhano_ Posts: 101
    If I know I'm going to be having a unhealthy day foodwise, I try and net about 200-300 under for the days leading up to it, and then on the day, do as much exercise as possible. This Easter Sunday, I burnt 900 calories hiking before I even touched chocolate, and then I was able to eat 750 calories of chocolate later on, with only my macros being bad, not my calories.

    But on days where I screw up a little, the next day I limit carbs and stick to fresh fruit and vegetables as much as possible and drink a lot of water. There's no use fasting, just respect your body a bit extra the next day, move on, and remember how good that food tasted :P
  • polo571
    polo571 Posts: 708 Member
    I like to make sure to hit the water heavy. I like to do Hiit training on the treadmill and burn off the gooe.
  • jpbeck
    jpbeck Posts: 30
    I've had a few terrible eating days, today was one with lunch (who would of thought 12 oz of cubed roasted chicken breast would have a lot of calories). But it didn't let me down. I take it as a learning experience because since I am new with this whole dieting thing and counting calories I had to have a new relationship with food. With any new relationship there is going to be trial and error so I took it as it is, learned something, and moved on with the learned lesson.

    Tomorrow I am going to see how many slices of roast beef they use at the place where I get my wraps to see if I get another shocker. :)

    But I have been told fasting is bad and really doesn't help in the long run, actually been told it will make it worse metabolism wise.
  • kvissy
    kvissy Posts: 205 Member
    Well Sunday I didn't eat well at ALL. I didn't weigh myself this morning but I'm assuming there's some extra on me (I guess we'll see tomorrow morning!) I ate all my calories today, exercised a bit more, but was just curious because I saw some status updates stating fasting....I wanted to see everyone's opinion on the matter. Seems that majority is ruling to just go back to normal (which is what I did!)

    Hopefully won't have another bad day in a very big while...thanks all!
  • cgray
    cgray Posts: 129 Member
    I cut about 200 calories the next day even if I ate waaaaaay over that the day before and then I just go back to normal.
  • muddyventures
    muddyventures Posts: 360 Member
    I always try to make sure my week averages out, I know some days are just going to be bigger days and others are going to be smaller intake. I will, if I know I'm going somewhere special (rare) , exercise and plan for a big meal so that I'm a bit in the deficit when it is meal time. I think making sure your weeks average out is what matters, but everyone is different and it has to work for you.
  • chrisdavey
    chrisdavey Posts: 9,834 Member
    Fasting is horrible for your body. It puts it into starvation mode, slowing your metabolism, and then makes you so incredibly hungry that you will overeat to feed your hunger. Do not fast! If you feel you must do an extra workout, okay, but just get back on your healthy routine.

    incorrect.

    I just resume as normal. Might be slightly more active than usual or lower intake slightly.
  • HMVOL7409
    HMVOL7409 Posts: 1,588 Member
    My husband and I have a cheat meal every week and the following day we start over but do a low carb day. I usually feel sick the next day anyways from crappy food even 24 hrs later so the low carbs definetly help.
  • reneegee23
    reneegee23 Posts: 232 Member
    Picking up where you left off is the best advice (as most people are saying) but I can certainly identify with wanting to have a bigger calorie deficit the day after a bad day. :) I go into full on panic mode, where it's all I can think about. But that's just my neurosis kicking in - I really don't think fasting the next day is helpful or healthy.
  • USMCConditioning
    USMCConditioning Posts: 84
    Today actually is my freebie day where i don't have to eat the same ole' food. So i let loose a little bit, of course, i feel like crap for it. But tomorrow i will be up nice and early like always, and if it's nice and sunny, i'll be going for a nice 5mile run. if not, i'll be on a treadmill/elliptical.
  • TinkrBelz
    TinkrBelz Posts: 866 Member
    On the days that I just screw up...i just start fresh the next day. Since it rarely happens, it has not been a problem.

    I do have a "cheat day" or a "splurge day" on every Friday....so if I get a crazy temptation, I try to hold off until Friday. There have been weeks that I messed up on a Tuesday and still did my "cheat Friday"

    So far, I have not gained any weight from doing this once a week.
  • Arestoktra
    Arestoktra Posts: 73
    I would just resume the routine. Even if you see some extra in tomorrow's scale, if will go away in a few days with your routine.

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